Despite the credit crunch, the megadeals keep coming, especially in the energy sector.
Electricité de France SA on Wednesday secured the prime position in a planned upgrade and expansion of the U.K.'s aging nuclear power infrastructure with a £12.5 billion ($23.2 billion) deal to buy British Energy Group plc.
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The agreement comes more than six months after British Energy said it was in takeover talks and follows several false starts before EdF, its target and holdout shareholder Invesco Ltd. were able to agree to terms.
British Energy is 35.6% owned by the U.K. government, and EdF is controlled by the French state.
The deal is a victory for the government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, which had agitated for a sale to EdF after it became convinced that it needed the expertise of the world's biggest nuclear power generator to relaunch Britain¹s nuclear sector. - Paul Whitfield
Dealscape: Electricite de France and British Energy checking each other out
